Stablecoins are emerging as cheaper alternatives to costly legacy FX rails, but off-ramps such as bank account access add significant friction, according to Delphi Digital. Stablecoins are gaining traction in high-cost cross-border payment corridors in emerging markets as they reduce some of the inefficiencies of legacy foreign exchange (FX) infrastructure, according to research firm Delphi Digital. Stablecoins are emerging as the cheapest way to move US dollars in emerging economies due to the high costs of legacy FX corridors, which can reach up to 8% in combined fees when sending money to Argentina or Nigeria. Delphi said in a Monday article on X that 81% of the cost in those corridors comes from servicing the underlying banking infrastructure, which it argues gives stablecoin rails a structural advantage. Read more
Stanley Druckenmiller said stablecoins are more efficient, faster and cheaper than fiat running on traditional banking infrastructure. Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller said blockchain and stablecoins may only be a decade away from powering the global payments system — though he isn’t sold on the idea of crypto functioning as a store of value. In an interview with Morgan Stanley recorded on Jan. 30 and released on Friday, the former hedge fund manager said blockchain-based tokens — particularly stablecoins — boost productivity in the payments space: "Blockchain and the use of stablecoins, if you want to throw crypto into that, tokens, incredibly useful in terms of productivity," Druckenmiller said. Read more
Stablecoins move trillions each year but mostly sit unused, leaving a widespread inefficiency across crypto markets. Opinion by: Artemiy Parshakov, vice-president of Institutions at P2P.org Stablecoins sit at the center of the digital asset economy, functioning as the de facto cash layer for onchain markets. With over $300 billion now held in stablecoins, they often exceed the transaction volumes of many traditional payment networks. Yet most of this capital is static. Read more
The European Central Bank warns in a new working paper that as stablecoin adoption grows, deposits may leave banks, affecting lending and monetary policy transmission. The European Central Bank said increasing stablecoin use may pull money out of bank deposits and weaken the way monetary policy flows through to lending, according to a new ECB working paper. Growing adoption of stablecoins, which are digital assets often pegged to currencies such as the US dollar or euro, is expected to draw funds away from traditional bank deposits, the ECB said in its latest working paper series, “Stablecoins and Monetary Policy Transmission,” released Tuesday. “Our analysis shows that rising interest in stablecoins is linked to a measurable decline in retail bank deposits and a reduction in lending to firms,” ECB staff said, adding that stablecoins can reduce the amount of credit banks provide to the real economy. Read more
A global survey of 4,658 crypto users found 39% receive income in stablecoins and 27% use them for payments, with stronger adoption in emerging markets. A global survey commissioned by BVNK and conducted by YouGov found that 39% of crypto users and prospective users across 15 countries receive income in stablecoins, while 27% use them for everyday payments, citing lower fees and faster cross-border transfers as key drivers. The survey of 4,658 respondents, conducted online in September and October 2025 among adults who currently hold or plan to acquire cryptocurrency, found that stablecoin users hold an average of about $200 in their wallets globally, though holdings in high-income economies average around $1,000. It also found that 77% of respondents would open a stablecoin wallet with their primary bank or fintech provider if offered, and 71% expressed interest in using a linked debit card to spend stablecoins. Read more
Stablecoin growth could drain bank deposits, with regional US banks most exposed, Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick warned. Stablecoins pose a real risk to bank deposits both globally and in the United States, according to a new report by Standard Chartered analysts. The delay of the US CLARITY Act — a bill proposing to prohibit interest on stablecoin holdings — is a “reminder that stablecoins pose a risk to banks,” Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, said in a report on Tuesday seen by Cointelegraph. “We estimate that US bank deposits will decrease by one-third of stablecoin market cap,” the analyst said, referring to a $301.4 billion market of US dollar-pegged stablecoins, as measured by CoinGecko. Read more
Why regulation favors stablecoins over Bitcoin for salaries and how compliance, volatility and payroll rules are shaping crypto wage adoption worldwide. Crypto payroll refers to paying employee salaries using blockchain-based digital currencies. Employers may use crypto payroll instead of traditional fiat currency or alongside it. You can set up crypto payroll in several ways: Read more
Moody’s said stablecoins and tokenized deposits are evolving into institutional “digital cash,” with trillions in onchain settlement volume and billions in infrastructure investment. Stablecoins are shifting from a crypto native tool to a core piece of institutional market plumbing, according to a new cross-sector outlook report from Moody’s. In the report, published Monday, the ratings agency said stablecoins processed about 87% more settlement volume in 2025 than the year before, reaching $9 trillion in activity based on industry estimates of onchain transactions, rather than purely bank‑to‑bank flows. Moody’s said fiat‑backed stablecoins and tokenized deposits are evolving into “digital cash” for liquidity management, collateral movements and settlements across an increasingly tokenized financial system. Read more
Stablecoins rank among the top catalysts for Web3 gaming growth, signaling a shift toward fundamentals, monetization and payment infrastructure. Blockchain game builders are increasingly prioritizing fundamentals and infrastructure over token-fuelled growth cycles, with stablecoin adoption emerging as one of the top three catalysts for the first time, according to the latest report from the Blockchain Gaming Alliance (BGA). On Wednesday, the BGA published its 2025 State of the Industry Report, which shows a shift in what builders believe will drive success in blockchain gaming. According to the report, the top three growth drivers were high-quality game launches (29.5%), revenue-driven business models (27.5%) and stablecoin adoption in payments (27.3%). Read more
A new BGA report revealed that, unlike volatile play-to-earn tokens, stablecoins offer predictability, giving game studios a steadier path to long-term growth. Stablecoins are taking on a new role in the $350-billion global gaming market, according to a new report published by the Blockchain Gaming Alliance (BGA). The BGA report argued that fiat-pegged digital assets, once viewed as only payment tools or decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity, are now becoming the unseen financial infrastructure that powers how developers pay creators, price items and retain players. The report said that stablecoins like USDt (USDT) or USDC (USDC) offer economic stability that speculative tokens lack. By eliminating volatility from in-game economies, they enable predictability, faster payouts and seamless asset exchange across platforms. Read more